Modern AGE Basic Rulebook

Enter the Modern AGE!

Leap into exciting adventure in any era from the Industrial Revolution to the modern day and beyond. The Modern AGE roleplaying game allows you to shape the setting to suit your style—whether it’s gritty action or high adventure, urban fantasy or a dystopian future. With a new, classless character-building system, twenty levels of advancement, and optional rules for psychic and magic powers, you can create the heroes your world needs. Along with an innovative stunt system, rules for thrilling chases, and an introductory adventure, you’ll find all the action you’re after inside the Modern AGE Basic Rulebook.

The Modern AGE RPG features:

A classless implementation of the Adventure Game Engine. Develop characters based on their backgrounds and experiences across 20 levels of advancement.

A game based around action, exploration, and social stunts. Roll doubles on three six-sided dice and something cool happens!

Arcane magic and psychic powers for modern era games.

Advice for first time and veteran Game Masters, including ways to customize the system for gritty stories, two-fisted pulp, and cinematic high adventure.

Sample antagonists and other non-player characters, and an introductory adventure: everything you need to start playing right away.

Use Modern AGE in the campaign setting of your choice, including the World of Lazarus,based on Greg Rucka’s creator-owned comic series of near-future feudalism, or use it to run adventures in the world you create. Grab three six-sided dice, and you’re ready to play in the Modern AGE!

I want to run a tough, post-apocalyptic game with *no* magic. How central is the magic in this system? Is it inextricable like in D&D or simply optional, like in Savage Worlds?

Clayton LJuly 07, 2018 3:14 am UTC

PURCHASER

It's secondary. They're treated as purchasable talents you can choose to implement or not.

Colin SJune 21, 2018 4:28 am UTC

Is there anything like cybernetics/cyberware in this book?

Jimmy PJune 22, 2018 1:29 pm UTC

PURCHASER

Nope. However, on page 164 you have what they call 'Extraordinary Stunt' which is a talent that allows you to pull stunts for free. This is presented as an emulation for extraordinary stuff characters from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Sense8 and Orphan Black can pull. I would say it could be used to emulate some piece of cyberware. Nothing like a big list of cyberware, which is a shame because this system could be used for cyberpunk type play (it even has magic in there...)

A companion has been announced and Cyberware could (should) be included there.

Timo MJune 16, 2018 3:30 am UTC

Not knowing the system at all:
How lethal is combat in the system, specifically on the gritty setting (which I assume is supposed to be the most "realistic"), regarding gun and knife wounds?
And on the other side of the spectrum, does the system operate with different classes/powerlevels of foes, such as "mooks/grunts/cannonfodder" / lieutnants / main antagonists?

Malcolm SJune 16, 2018 8:13 pm UTC

In Gritty Mode, a hit where you spend stunt points to increase damage or activate certain other stunts can make a knife have a chance of mortally wounding a character who isn't especially (15 Health) tough (spending 5 SP can make a dagger inflict an extra 2d6, + 1d6+1). A semiautomatic handgun inflicts 2d6 + Stunt Die (1d6) damage. 5 SP could increase this to 4d6 + Stunt Die (5d6 total) so the average damage would instantly kill a 15 Health opponent and threaten a character with 23 Health (just about the highest you can start with)

So in Gritty, a character can take a not-unrealistic number of blows from these weapons before being downed unless the attacker rolls especially well and wants to kill their target.

In Pulpy and Cinematic, characters are tougher, especially as they go up in level.

The game does have options for "extras," who can be one-shotted, and Minor NPCs, who aren't quite so tough and have some of their features streamlined.

Timo MJune 16, 2018 9:10 pm UTC

Great, thank you for the info Malcolm, greatly appreciated =)

Roc WJune 19, 2018 3:12 am UTC

Currently playing a Dragon Age RPG (DARPG) campaign that AGE and Modern Age are based upon (and owning and have read the original PDF--the updated PDF I haven't had a chance to look over yet--so I can see the similarities) I found that there was a bit of initial trial and error to setting up encounters. Neither rules set give enemies levels as such and it is up to the GM to determine the lethality of an encounter (DARPG doesn't have a built in gritty mode but a GM could include it with little effort if they like).

There are no level one 'monsters' for a party of level-1 players for example. There are minor threats, moderate threats, and major threats where the GM decides how many baddies to field against the PC's (say two minor threats per PC as an level-3 encounter example). Or the GM may assign less 'monsters' but add more HP to them, etc. In my group's DARPG playtest stages I have found that a major threat single encounter (1x monster) with added STR and HP's was easy game for a party of four...See more at 4th level. Had I included a gritty mode, it may have been more even so I'd say it is somewhat trial and error to get a ballance.

For the most parts, Stunts add damage while Armour reduces it. Fudging character creation to give players even a stat as low as 1 can add immense power to a character and that gets more powerful as they progress in levels as they gain stat improvements. I'd suggest letting the dice lay where they fall even if a few stats are in minus. But basically, the DARPD rules, and from what I take from the MA rules, the GM has the ability to make any encounter lethal as they see fit by playing within the rules with beefed up baddies and the mode in which you play the game.

Ols Jonas Petter OJune 15, 2018 2:08 pm UTC

Hi there, can we expect a printed version of this book to be forthcoming?

Jonathan LJune 16, 2018 12:06 am UTC

PURCHASER

I used to work for GR and yes, I know for certain that a print version will be coming "soon". They typically release the PDF before sending the book to print so they can get corrections from the fans that the editors missed.

Todd SJune 16, 2018 1:31 am UTC

The print version is already on pre-order through their website. I don't think they do POD on their stuff.

Roc WJune 19, 2018 2:51 am UTC

You can preorder the basic print version (there is no deluxe, collector, or other special option) for the usual price of such a product plus postage, and for an extra $5, you can get the PDF immediately which is up to its second release version.

Heads up for Aussies: Buying the preorder + postage + the $5 PDF will set you back over $AUD80. That is for the basic rule book without any extra flash like GM screen or poster-sized maps or I assume, no dice included--just a rule book as advertised. That's not cheap but I really wanted it so I bit the bullet, others may need to be aware of that.

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